View full sizeJoseph Rose/The OregonianThey may suggest otherwise, but new bike-pedestrian signs near bike boulevards -- including this one at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Going Street -- don't mean drivers must also stop for people on bikes at unsignaled crosswalks.

Don Henley once sang about a "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac." The
commuter who sent in this week's first question spotted something just
as enigmatic in Portlandia:

"I saw a dump truck the other day that had a sticker warning to
stay back 200 feet and that it was not liable for broken windshields.
Can an offender absolve themselves of responsibility that easily in such
situations?"

If only it were that easy.

Just imagine a bumper sticker reading "Bikes on roof may not be
secured and could suddenly fly off (blame physics)." Or "Swinging door
may dent your parked car (serves you right for being there)."

The owner of that dump truck is basically pushing the same specious
wash-my-hands-of-it philosophy. But it's unlikely anyone can avoid
liability for damaging another vehicle, including a chipped or cracked
windshield, by simply displaying a warning sticker. I'm thinking it's
there to discourage claims.

A better approach would be to clear or secure stuff that could fly
into traffic before hitting the road, said Judge Michael J. O'Brien, who
hears 900 traffic cases a month in Tigard Municipal Court. "A company
can't just impose its own traffic code -- the 200-foot gap -- or
proclaim its non-liability," O'Brien said.

In fact, the judge said, the dump truck's driver or owner could get
a $295 ticket for "operation of an unsafe vehicle," especially if
there's evidence that the flitting rubble endangered others. "Even a
small rock bouncing along the highway at 55 mph might constitute a
violation," O'Brien said.

"I see barges working on the Portland's new Willamette River
bridge. I've read that only bikes, transit and pedestrians will be
allowed on it when it's done. Why won't I be able to drive my car across
it?"

TriMet is mighty proud of what it says will be the nation's largest
car-free transit bridge. The 1,720-foot cable-stayed span is the coming
Portland-Milwaukie light rail Line's centerpiece. But that doesn't mean
it didn't consider making room for private automobiles.

"We did look at having cars on the bridge," said Dave Unsworth,
deputy director of the $1.5 billion Orange Line project, "but we found that the
connections on either side were problematic."

Given the expected South Waterfront development, Unsworth said,
local streets would already be at capacity without the extra traffic.
Plus, the location of the Marquam Bridge as well as state and federal
interchange spacing standards would have made connections to the highway
systems impossible, he said.

The $134 million bridge would also need to be more than twice as
big, adding significantly to the price tag and likely delaying the
project for years, Unsworth said.

"At Northeast 41st and Klickitat in Portland, there's a new
crosswalk sign that has a picture of a pedestrian and a bike. I'm seeing
a lot of these around town. Do these mean cars must now yield the right
of way if a bicyclist is crossing there?"

If the bicyclist stays in the saddle, no. The city has installed 120 of these signs along bike boulevards -- also known as "neighborhood greenways" --
to warn motorists of increased bicycle traffic. But they don't
magically give people on bikes new privileges. Motorists are still only
required to yield for pedestrians at those and other unsignaled crosswalks, said Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Mark Lear.

So, unless you're
feeling benevolent, you wouldn't have to stop for a bicyclist -- that
is, unless he turns into a pedestrian by dismounting and walking his
ride across the street."The bicyclist can ride across the street using the crosswalk," Lear said, "but they have to wait for traffic to clear."